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Netflix’s new horror movie is what you should be watching for Halloween

There are a lot of horror movies on Netflix. 99% of them are awful*. So it makes sense, in terms of Netflix’s long-term plans to provide half of its own content, that they would want to remedy this situation themselves. Better curation? Okay, yes, but in lieu of that we have I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, a new movie starring Ruth Wilson (Luther, The Affair) from director Oz Perkins. It’s curation-via-creation; creating the content you wish to see in the world. And to be honest, the faith placed in Perkins as an auteur is heartening for what it says about Netflix…

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Net neutrality is dead and so is God

Net neutrality was a good idea while it lasted. Up until Tuesday, service providers couldn’t gouge you, the consumer, for burning through high-bandwidth on services like Netflix and online games, because all things on the Internet were considered equal. This kept competition fair and costs low. But after a ruling by the US Court of Appeals in D.C. this week, that’s one utopian ideal that may go poof.  Though the ruling can still be appealed to the Supreme Court by the FCC, the court ruled in Verizon’s favor, who filed a lawsuit that essentially complained that they should have the…

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Sony’s streaming service will either be good, evil, or somewhere in between

As Sony made known yesterday, PlayStation systems are about to partake in an orgy of streaming content. Called PlayStation Now, the all-streaming, digital subscription service is a bold move by Sony, letting us play games the same way that we watch TV on Netflix, and listen to music on Spotify. You will be able to stream PS3 games to whatever system you own, be it a PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, or a Vita. You can start playing Uncharted in your living room on PS4 and finish it in your bedroom on PS3, or on your Vita in the bathroom, because…

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The E.T. excavation documentary is Xbox’s answer to the Netflix original

Earlier this year, we learned of one man’s bonkers plan to shoot a documentary as he excavates a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico, where it’s said millions of copies of E.T. are buried. Today we found out that this film will be original content for Xbox. There has been original television content on consoles before, but nothing this huge. With this multimedia endeavor, Microsoft is taking a page from Netflix, who has added a slew of original shows to their streaming service, including House of Cards, Hemlock Grove, and Arrested Development.  The E.T. documentary should be a quality pick-up for…

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With House of Cards, Netflix is learning what gamemakers have known all along.

Looks like television producers are finally figuring out what videogame companies have known for decades: If you can make something yourself, why buy it from somebody else? – – – House of Cards is a 13-episode drama directed by David Fincher and starring Kevin Spacey. Twenty years ago, the star power and high production values would’ve made Cards a top-tier network show like NYPD Blue. Ten years ago, Cards likely would have landed on premium cable, next to The Sopranos or Six Feet Under. If you can make something yourself, why buy it from somebody else? Now, viewers can only…